June 3, 20205 yr I have four chargers for my DC powered tools. I started with Sears 12V batteries, that didn't last long. Now I have 3 diffrent brands, due to receiving gifts and now a 40 volt mower battery. My work area is very small and limited. I've moved things around and now have the batteries/chargers kind of organized. How do you store you DC equipment?
June 3, 20205 yr Popular Post I have three of these, two in shop and one in back building. They are powered through a timer and a switch to each charger. Set the timer 2-8 hours and flip switch for that charger. Once the timer is off, no more power to unit, no topping off wsting a charge cycle. Edited June 3, 20205 yr by Gunny
June 3, 20205 yr Author Gunny, I guess that answers one of my questions about leaving a battery on the charger 24/7. But it also bring up another question. If you fully charge a battery, it does no harm to leave it in place? If it slow discharges over a period, does it auto charge back to fully charged?
June 3, 20205 yr 24 minutes ago, Ron Altier said: If you fully charge a battery, it does no harm to leave it in place? Great debate on this. If left plugged into a regular outlet many chargers "top off" this is a small static charge to keep at max level. Problem is that also counts against the expected charge life of the battery. Leaving a battery plugged in to a charger is a potential fire hazard. Sure the risk may be low but why take it at all. Best to take battery out once done, or if left overnight the next day. I use this method of killing the power to the charger to eliminate this top off feature. Generally I pull batteries from the charger before calling it a night just to be sure. If you get a timer make sure it has 2-8 hours of time on it. Many only have 5 min to 1 hour. For some batteries this is not enough time. How well does this work? I have same set up at work for my Streamlight flashlight. Have gotten 10 years out of those batteries before having to change them out. Having more than one so you don't constantly charge and use same one is also helpful.
June 4, 20205 yr I am not a battery expert, but I have electricians tell me that I should cycle the batteries down to 0 once per month and then charge them fully. I have a set of DeWalt batteries that I purchased about 8 years ago and one died on me last month. The other is still working fine. I am happy that the one has lasted 8 years. So, off to Battery Source tomorrow.
June 4, 20205 yr Popular Post 9 hours ago, FlGatorwood said: I am not a battery expert, but I have electricians tell me that I should cycle the batteries down to 0 once per month and then charge them fully. I have a set of DeWalt batteries that I purchased about 8 years ago and one died on me last month. The other is still working fine. I am happy that the one has lasted 8 years. So, off to Battery Source tomorrow. Funny thing Steve is that debate has been going on since rechargeable batteries were invented. That full discharge may not be good for batteries and 20% is about as low as I have seen a manufacturer go. Once it was said on old technology that full discharge was good but the whole manufacturing process has changed and improved. We went from NiCAd to Nimh to lithium. It depends on the battery you have as to what is the proper care. Here is a article on NIMH and no I did not read it all: Nickel-Metal Hydride And this longer one on Lithium and I did not read all of it either :Lithium based batteries
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.